Another sailplane lost!

On Feb 1, 8:32*am, GARY BOGGS wrote:
When are we going to quit loosing sailplanes to poor tie downs?

http://bit.ly/cgioFc

Last year my super cub's left wing and struts were destroyed in a wind
storm,
the double tiedowns held the airplane in place for the wind to twist
the wing.

Would have been nice if it had been in the hangar but then a lot of
very nice
gliders were lost in the Barstow hangar fire a while ago.

Jim

On Feb 2, 7:59*am, Jim wrote:
On Feb 1, 8:32*am, GARY BOGGS wrote:

When are we going to quit loosing sailplanes to poor tie downs?

http://bit.ly/cgioFc

Last year my super cub's left wing and struts were destroyed in a wind
storm,
the double tiedowns held the airplane in place for the wind to twist
the wing.

Would have been nice if it had been in the hangar but then a lot of
very nice
gliders were lost in the Barstow hangar fire a while ago.

Jim

There's a lot to be learned from the experience at Boulder, CO where
high-wind events often exceed 100 MPH for many hours.

The technique is 6 deeply buried concrete tie down anchors per glider
- nose, tail and two on each wing - one inboard and one outboard. On
flex-winged composite gliders, wing stands are used. The gliders are
oriented 90 degrees to the high-wind direction.

Ropes are at least 1/2" (13mm) high-strength climbing ropes or nylon
straps. The knots are multiple half hitches drawn up tight against
the glider. These knots are so simple anyone can tie them with one
demonstration - and they'll come loose when you want them to. As long
as there is no slack, they won't work loose on their own.

On Feb 2, 9:33*am, bildan wrote:
On Feb 2, 7:59*am, Jim wrote:



On Feb 1, 8:32*am, GARY BOGGS wrote:

When are we going to quit loosing sailplanes to poor tie downs?

http://bit.ly/cgioFc

Last year my super cub's left wing and struts were destroyed in a wind
storm,
the double tiedowns held the airplane in place for the wind to twist
the wing.

Would have been nice if it had been in the hangar but then a lot of
very nice
gliders were lost in the Barstow hangar fire a while ago.

Jim

There's a lot to be learned from the experience at Boulder, CO where
high-wind events often exceed 100 MPH for many hours.

The technique is 6 deeply buried concrete tie down anchors per glider
- nose, tail and two on each wing - one inboard and one outboard. *On
flex-winged composite gliders, wing stands are used. *The gliders are
oriented 90 degrees to the high-wind direction.

Ropes are at least 1/2" (13mm) high-strength climbing ropes or nylon
straps. *The knots are multiple half hitches drawn up tight against
the glider. *These knots are so simple anyone can tie them with one
demonstration - and they'll come loose when you want them to. *As long
as there is no slack, they won't work loose on their own.

I believe the slats inserted into the cyclone fencing surrounding the
Boulder parking bays has also paid an important part.

I never saw any of the pictures taken of me in the wrecked 1-26. If
you have any could you email them to me?

On Feb 2, 9:40*am, Frank Whiteley wrote:
On Feb 2, 9:33*am, bildan wrote:



On Feb 2, 7:59*am, Jim wrote:

On Feb 1, 8:32*am, GARY BOGGS wrote:

When are we going to quit loosing sailplanes to poor tie downs?

http://bit.ly/cgioFc

Last year my super cub's left wing and struts were destroyed in a wind
storm,
the double tiedowns held the airplane in place for the wind to twist
the wing.

Would have been nice if it had been in the hangar but then a lot of
very nice
gliders were lost in the Barstow hangar fire a while ago.

Jim

There's a lot to be learned from the experience at Boulder, CO where
high-wind events often exceed 100 MPH for many hours.

The technique is 6 deeply buried concrete tie down anchors per glider
- nose, tail and two on each wing - one inboard and one outboard. *On
flex-winged composite gliders, wing stands are used. *The gliders are
oriented 90 degrees to the high-wind direction.

Ropes are at least 1/2" (13mm) high-strength climbing ropes or nylon
straps. *The knots are multiple half hitches drawn up tight against
the glider. *These knots are so simple anyone can tie them with one
demonstration - and they'll come loose when you want them to. *As long
as there is no slack, they won't work loose on their own.

I believe the slats inserted into the cyclone fencing surrounding the
Boulder parking bays has also paid an important part.

Yeah, the cyclone fencing helps a lot. They strain out flying debris
and slow the wind a bit. I've been out there when wind borne golf
ball sized rocks were hitting me at knee level.

The technique is 6 deeply buried concrete tie down anchors per glider
- nose, tail and two on each wing - one inboard and one outboard. On
flex-winged composite gliders, wing stands are used. The gliders are
oriented 90 degrees to the high-wind direction.

I'll never understand how somebody would tie down a plastic glider
outside rather than put it in the trailer. Rigging a modern glider is a
matter of 10 minutes but possibly worth a couple of thousand dollars.

Bugger. Was hoping you'd cough them up!
Another interesting short flight was a friend towing his 1-26 to the
hangar with the technique a lot of Schweizer pilots use:
A short rope attached to the tow release that has a T-handle on the
end.
Nothing much you can do once the glider tries to leave the ground but
let go and run upwind. In this case it did no damage to anything else.
The Tonopah launch out of the tiedowns was lucky, only putting a blue
stripe on Charlie Westerinen's winglet.
A close shave, as Martin Feeg would write in Soaring Australia.
Jim

On Feb 2, 8:56*am, GARY BOGGS wrote:
I never saw any of the pictures taken of me in the wrecked 1-26. *If
you have any could you email them to me?

On Feb 2, 11:34*am, John Smith wrote:
The technique is 6 deeply buried concrete tie down anchors per glider
- nose, tail and two on each wing - one inboard and one outboard. *On
flex-winged composite gliders, wing stands are used. *The gliders are
oriented 90 degrees to the high-wind direction.

I'll never understand how somebody would tie down a plastic glider
outside rather than put it in the trailer. Rigging a modern glider is a
matter of 10 minutes but possibly worth a couple of thousand dollars.

I have to agree that putting it in the trailer would be the most
prudent thing to do. I'd like to be the kind of guy that would
actually do it, but I'm not. After a 5 - 8 hour flight, all I want is
a beer, something to eat, an access point to upload my flight, and
bed. The 1/2 hour required to pull the trailer to the glider, de-rig
and box it, then park the trailer and disconnect it from the truck
seems like a monumental task at the end of the day, especially when it
will be flown the next day, and the next.....

On Feb 2, 12:34*pm, John Smith wrote:
The technique is 6 deeply buried concrete tie down anchors per glider
- nose, tail and two on each wing - one inboard and one outboard. *On
flex-winged composite gliders, wing stands are used. *The gliders are
oriented 90 degrees to the high-wind direction.

I'll never understand how somebody would tie down a plastic glider
outside rather than put it in the trailer. Rigging a modern glider is a
matter of 10 minutes but possibly worth a couple of thousand dollars.

Interesting question. If the glider is flown every day, as many at
Boulder are, the wear and tear of daily rig/derig cycles would add up
plus there's the possibility that someone would eventually drop a wing
or worse.

That said, rigging with the best aids is not all that much harder than
working with full covers and 6 ropes. I'm inclined to think putting
the most expensive glass birds back in their trailer each day is the
better choice.

Of course, hangars are the optimum answer. At Boulder, hangars aren't
an option.

I have to agree that putting it in the trailer would be the most
prudent thing to do. I'd like to be the kind of guy that would
actually do it, but I'm not. *After a 5 - 8 hour flight, all I want is
a beer, something to eat, an access point to upload my flight, and
bed. The 1/2 hour required to pull the trailer to the glider, de-rig
and box it, then park the trailer and disconnect it from the truck
seems like a monumental task at the end of the day, especially when it
will be flown the next day, and the next.....

force your hand. do the safe thing. land out more often.